Basement Rat

After a barrage of horrible relationships, it’s sometimes hard to believe you’ll be able to find a good one. This poem speaks to the way we hold back when starting those relationships with someone we think is “too good to be true”. We hold back, thinking we’re a step ahead of heartbreak this time. But when we become so focused on protecting ourselves for the future, we are unable to let go of the past and furthermore are unable to live in the past. Basement Rat is a warning; don’t let the good ones go because you were too scared to see the potential they had.

I hear you want to be a basement rat Hide under furs so pressed in privacy I pray nightly that “you’re better then that” But is affection simply fallacy?

I’ve heard the songs, time and time before this Weathering wars, armed with a silver ring Hiding ‘neath oyster shells, waiting for bliss Watch me too close and forget how to sing

Different; you claim unique abilities To shut me up so I’m free to expound Knowing I’m haunted you jingle the keys Perhaps locked gazes, not chains, keep us bound